


Only a Hippopotamus will do.

by SimplyEssa



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: BAMF Lance (Voltron), First Kiss, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gentleman Lance (Voltron), Getting Together, Humour, Insecure Keith (Voltron), Keef loves..., Keifers loves..., M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining Idiots, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Sad Keith (Voltron), hippos - Freeform, lance - Freeform, lots of fluff, non-established relationship, not much else (voltron), there like.01 angst, very mild angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-06 13:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12212628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimplyEssa/pseuds/SimplyEssa
Summary: Visiting a planet, Keith and Lance find a fair.Within that fair, Lance finds a stuffed hippo prize.Shenanigans ensue.





	Only a Hippopotamus will do.

**Author's Note:**

> despite what the summary says, its a bit angsty without a lto of shenanigans, because hoe would this be m work if tehre was no angst?

They had stopped on the planet Symbagvæ for a ‘vacation day’, as Allura put it, but Lance knew they were really just stopping and taking a break so Keith could calm the fuck down.

Over the past few days, he had been tense and snapping at everyone.

It probably didn’t help that Lance watched Keith’s vlog.

And told him about it.

That night, he didn’t come to dinner, and before that, when he passed Keith in the halls, Lance swore he saw tear streaks on his paler-than-normal face. He told Allura about it, and she told Lance that he had just made his vlog...

One thing lead to another, and then Lance was running from the bridge and to the training deck, where he always was, to find Keith screaming at a robot, who lay on the ground, lifeless.

Too shocked to move, Lance had stayed behind the wall, peeking into the room. Keith’s back was too him, but he could tell by the shake of his shoulders that he was crying...

”You stupid piece of junk!” He had screamed. “You- you’re useless, and stupid, and impulsive, and no... no body needs you and they don’t love and they’re all going to leave and _oh God_ -“

Lance quickly learned that he wasn’t talking about the bot.

He decided that then would be the time he would walk in and try to comfort him, but-

“Start training level nine.”

And that was that.

He was going to talk to him about the next day, but then they stopped here, and so far, they haven’t had a chance to talk-

“Alright, Paladins,” Coran announced cheerfully, twirling his moustache. “Do what you want for the quintant, but don’t leave the planet!”

They all sent their affirmatives- Hunk’s whoop, Pidge’s sarcastic enthusiasm, and Keith’s blank stare, which quickly morphed into a small frown and walking legs-

Lance chased after him.

Before he could turn the hall to the training deck, he grabbed the crook of his elbow and dragged him closer.

Keith let out a high pitched squeak, and fuck, if that wasn’t cute, _then Lance doesn’t know what’s cute,_ and stumbled, unable to catch himself before he fell into Lance’s chest.

Instead of blushing like a maniac, like he would normally do when Keith even smiled at him, he cocked an eyebrow and pulled on a smirk, ignoring the churning in his stomach. “It looks like I swept you off your feet,” he winked at Keith, who had a suspicious tint of pink to his cheeks, who spluttered nonsense and pushed himself off.

He crossed his arms with a scowl on his face. “What.”

”I figured we could go check out the planet,” he shrugged, shoving his hands into his jackets pockets.

Keith raised an eyebrow to that. “Why? Can’t Hunk join you?”

He pushed down the flash of hurt that Keith didn’t want to go with him, and placed a hand on his hip. “What? Can’t I spend time with my favourite dropout?”

”I...” Keith looked at his feet. “I guess.”

”And besides,” Lance slung an arm over Keith’s shoulders, who huffed but didn’t push it off (and maybe even leaned into the touch?), and walked towards the doors of the Castle. “I wanted to see if you were okay.”

They were out of the Castle now. It was cold, but not like... winter cold. More like ‘it-just-turned-fall-put-on-a-sweater’ cold. He noticed that Keith didn’t have his jacket on, probably forgot to grab it from the training deck last night, but it wasn’t his main concern. “Um, yeah? Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

”I- uh- I saw your-“ Lance cut off, staring at something y’all and round in the distance. “Holy shit.”

”What?” Keith moved away from his arm, tensing as if he was ready to attack-

“It’s a fair,” he breathed, watching the familiar ferris wheel spin. “C’mon!” He grabbed Keith’s hand and ran, ignoring the butterflies in his stomach.

”L-Lance!”

”It’s a fair!”

”I don’t-“ They had gotten to the fair entrance. There were no ticket booth people, which was good, because Lance didn’t really think that through, but they probably would’ve gotten in for free because they were allied with this planet. He tugged Keith inside, in awe by how Earth-like it was. “Jesus Christ.”

”Right?!” Lance vaguely noticed that Keith hadn’t forced his hands away, along with the fact that Keith was starting to get goosebumps. “Hey- are you cold?”

”No-“

”Bullshit.”

Keith huffed, taking his hand back to cross his arms and shove his hands into his armpits. “Maybe.”

”Dumbass,” he muttered, but his lips stretched into a small smile. He shrugged off his jacket and offered it to Keith. “Here.”

Keith gaped at him, eyes wide and jaw slack.

He wiggles his arm a bit, trying to remind Keith of. the. jacket. “Keith?”

”I- uh- yeah- um-“ Keith coughed shortly, his cheeks turning brighter than Red’s armour. “Thanks,” he decided on, hesitantly taking Lance’s jacket and putting it on and-

“Oh my God,” he covered his mouth with his hands, trying to suppress his laughter. The jacket was like a dress on Keith, and it was adorable, don’t get him wrong, but he was just so tiny- how did Lance _not_ notice before-

“What?” Keith scowled at him, crossing his arms even though the sleeves went past his fingers.

”You’re so _small_ ,” he teased, letting his laughter loose. Keith scowled further, and God, Lance was going to die of cuteness overload because that pout-

“Let’s go,” he muttered darkly, not waiting for Lance as he started to walk.

Still laughing, he jogged after Keith. Keith’s head was ducked, his arms shoved into the pockets of his jacket. The sun was shining off of his black hair, giving it a form of halo that flowed off of it. His mother had always warned him about pretty girls, but she had never warned him about pretty Keiths. He had these amazing, violet eyes that would light up every time you talked about something he enjoyed fondly (Shiro, Red, training, and... himself?). Whenever Lance baited Keith into an argument or challenge, the corner of his mouth would quirk up and he’d let out adorable laughs at the stupidest joke and he’d get the smallest pout whenever Lance was doing something he did not like and there was just soemhing about this boy that makes Lance head over heels for him-

“-lra! If you think you can trick me, then you can burn in a hole. You’re stupid-“ An alien brought him from his thoughts when he shoved a finger to Keith’s chest, who was pale and staring at the tall, purple, squid-like alien in front of him. It was at least 6’9, and had three eyes, and was currently raising a clawed fist. “If you think you can trick us!”

”You said that already,” Keith muttered, more to himself, and flinched back when the alien moved it’s arm.

”I said that already-“ They hissed back, grabbing the collar of Keith’s shirt. Keith let out a startled yelp, stumbling forward when the alien pulled. “If you think that you’re good because you’re only half-“

”Hey!” Lance shouted, stopping the alien that was holding a shell shocked Keith. “Leave him alone.”

”Really? Why should I? His people-“

” _His people_ ,” Lance spat, grabbing Keith’s forearm and dragging him behind him, forcing the hand off of Keith, “Are the Paladins of Voltron. And unless you want to fuck with them; Back. Off.”

They glared at Lance, tried to murder Keith with their eyes, but stalked off none the less.

”You okay?” Lance asked, turning around to face Keith, who was deciding between running and... doing something. Lance wasn’t sure.

”I...” Keith trailed off, wrapping his arms around himself. “Y-yeah. I’m fine.”

Lance knew that was bullshit, but he also knew that if he pushed Keith, Keith would go back into his emo shell.

He sighed lightly, letting go of Keith’s arm. “C’mon,” Lance grabbed Keith’s hand, blushing slightly when Keith didn’t pull it away. That was a good sign, wasn’t it? “Let’s go find something to-“

And there it was.

A classic shoot the target game.

It was box shaped, with four impossible to hit targets that were glowing green. A shady looking alien was standing at the side, counting a stack of orange paper. The money for this planet- Coran has given him some the other day so he could have fun with Keith, as if he knew about the teensy weensy little crush he had.

It wasn’t the game that attracted him, though. It was the giant, stuffed, purple hippopotamus hanging from the ceiling of the booth.

”Lance? What is it?” 

Keith loved hippos.

According to Shiro, when he was eleven, he had never been able to separate Keith from his stuffed hippo. His room was filled with hippo drawings, and he had tried, more than once, to visit the zoo _just_ for the hippos.

”Uh, nothing? I mean- I have to go-“ Lance stuttered, looking for an excuse. He was _going_ to win it for Keith, and Keith _would_ not find out. “Poo! I have to poo.”

Lance internally cringed.

”Uh,” Keith blanched a little, a weird look taking over his face. “Okay.”

”I think I saw a bathroom over here,” Lance said truthfully, because he did. He lead Keith to a hovering bench near it, then disappeared inside the (hopefully) male bathroom with a quick ‘ _I’ll be right back_ ’.

Honestly, Lance didn’t want to leave Keith alone, especially with that alien walking around, but Keith could take care of himself, and he really wanted to win that hippo for Keith. Sacrifices had to be made.

Luckily, once Lance had entered the room, no one else was in it, giving him a free pass to climb out of the window, which, surprisingly, was big enough for Lance to stand in. 

Climbing out was easy- all he had to do was climb on the sink, open it, and step out.

He snuck around the building, careful to stay out of Keith’s range of vision, and ran to the stall where he saw the hippo.

It wasn’t too long of a run, sure, but to Lance, it took forever.

”Welcome!” The carny person greeted, smiling as it clasped it’s arm. Lance smiled shakily, resting his hands on his knees as he panted harshly. “If you would like to play, it costs five sorplax.”

Lance nodded, straightening himself up. “Right,” He shoved his hand into his pocket, pulling out five of the orange papers. He handed it to the person, who took it without a seconds hesitation. 

“Alright. The objective of this game is to knock down these four targets, using these blasters,” he gestured to four guns that had wires attached to the stand.

”Can I use my own blaster?” He knew how his worked. The guns wouldn’t be strong enough to knock down the targets, or the targets would be glued in space. He wasn’t taking chances- Keith would get that hippo.

They pursed their lips, folding their three fingers behind their back. “I... suppose so, yes.”

”Great,” Lance smirked a bit, pulling out his bayard and forming the gun.

”Oh kolia!” They shouted, a bree fingered hand covering their mouth. “That’s an amazing blaster! You must tell me how you made it-“

”Can’t. Secret,” Lance winked, lining up his shot. Taking a deep breath and ignoring the alien, he pulled the trigger. The target got knocked down.

They narrowed their eyes, staring at the fallen target. Ah. So they were glued in space.

”All four?”

They nodded.

And a few seconds later, all of the targets were knocked down.

”Yes!” Lance pumped a fist in the air, dematerializing his bayard as it vanished into nothing.

”I’m sorry, but you did not use our guns, and are therefore disqualified-“

Lance glared at them. “You told me I could!” He pointed an accusing finger.

”I don’t recall-“

”Alright, pal,” Lance huffed, grabbing his bayard from thin air. He was pissed, this guy was a dumbass, and Keith was going to get that hippo. “I’ve got a friend that’s going to get that hippo-“

”What’s a hippo?”

”And if you’re going to pull the ‘I-didn’t-see-it’ move on me, we are going to have issues,” He formed his bayard, bracing his finger on the trigger. “Got it?”

The alien gulped audibly, standing on some hovering platform with a pair of green, wooden scissors in his hand. They cut the string to the hippo, taking it in their shaking hands, and descended back onto the ground. “Anything else, sir?” They asked, handing him the hippo.

Lance took it with a huge smile, then made his bayard disappear. “Nope!” He said cheerfully, popping the p. “Thanks!”

And with that, he ran to the bathrooms again.

* * *

Keith huffed, leaning back into the seat and crossing his arms. The idiot could’ve gone to the bathroom before they left, or something. Going to the bathroom shouldn’t take this long! Unless... unless he was in danger? Or fell down the weird ass space toilet? Or... ran away?

He decided that Lance had most likely fallen into the toilet, ignoring the third option that popped into his mind.

He got up, taking a step forward when someone appeared in front of him, blocking his path.

It was the alien from before.

Keith tensed, suppressing a flinch. 

Honestly, when he had bumped into the alien, he had not expected it to grab him and shake him violently, then proceed to repeat the same words over and over. He would never admit it, but he was terrified. It reminded him of his old foster dad, Nokraz, and he couldn’t move because he was back in that home being backhanded over and over and Lance didn’t interfere until he was bordering on crying.

”You,” it hissed, raising a clawed tentacle. This time, he did flinch, ignoring the smug grin that spread across it’s face. He tried to take a step back, but the alien grasped his arm, it’s claws digging painfully into his bicep. “Where’s your little friend now?”

Keith swallowed over the lumpnin his throat, taking in a shaky breath. He would not be scared, he would fight back, he’s not scared, he’s not scared-

“Oh,” The alien mocked him, letting go of his arm. Keith stumbled backwards, staring at the alien. “Is the little monster scared?”

Keith didn’t respond, instead choosing to _back the fuck up_.

“Good,” it sneered, then proceeded to lunge at Keith.

With a sharp gasp, he barely managed to dodge before the thing clawed out his eyes. It had been able to scratch his cheek, but only with one claw.

“Lance, now would be a great time to come out of the bathroom,” he muttered bitterly, raising an arm to block a punch to the face.

He was too slow, though, and it hit his already scratched cheek, sending him stumbling backwards.

”You are a monster,” it hissed, grabbing the front of Keith’s shirt. It pulled Keith up and over it’s head, leaving his feet dangling uselessly in the air. “You should not exist.

Then the alien grabbed a sword from a belt that Keith hadn’t noticed before, and raised it to Keith’s level-

“I thought you didn’t want to fuck with the Paladins,” Startled, Keith looked straight ahead. Keith almost, _almost_ , sobbed in relief. Lance was standing a few inches from the alien, the barrel of the gun pressed against his head. The alien tensed, lowering it’s sword. “Put him down,” there was something else in his hand, but he couldn’t really see through the tears in his eyes because Lance had come back and he hadn’t left and he wasn’t going to leave him-

With a huff, the alien let go of Keith, who, unprepared for the sudden fall, landed on his back with a quiet groan.

”Leave,” Lance snarled, pulling the gun away, but only by half an inch. Keith pushed himself onto his arms, not getting up, but not laying down, either. The alien practically ran, because apparently, his life was more important than killing Keith.

And just like that, all of the hostility on Lance’s face was gone, and he was kneeling beside Keith with a concerned expression. “Are you okay?”

Instead of answering him, Keith sniffed blinked harshly, trying to keep his tears inside because this is a stupid reason to cry and he shouldn’t cry because it’s stupid and he’s stupid and so _pathetic_ -

“Keith?” Lance was wiping something away from his uninjured cheek, and- oh.

He was crying.

”You came b’ck,” Keith smiled shakily, despite the ache in his left cheek. 

“I- um, yeah?” Lance seemed a little guilty, rubbing the back of his neck and standing up. He offered a hand to Keith, who took it gratefully.

”Uh,” he managed, embarrassment flooding him as the tears stopped. He shouldn’t be crying. “Thanks.”

”Ah- no problem,” Lance response was faked nonchalance as he started to walk, that weird purple blob in his hand. “We should... probably leave.”

”Yeah,” Keith agreed, only a little bit upset. He probably shouldn’t be here if racist aliens were here, but he was a little excited to go on the rides with Lance...

”Do you not want to? I’m fine with staying if you are,” Lance offered, and Keith visually brightened up.

”Oh, yeah,” Keith bit back another smile. “Sure. If you want.”

”Weirdo,” Lance rolled his eyes fondly, slinging an arm over his shoulders. His hand grazed the cut on his arm, earning a sharp hiss. “What?”

”I-“ Keith looked at his arm, covered by Lance’s jacket- “Shit.”

”What is it?”

”I-I’m sorry,” Keith’s voice cracked. “The alien- he grabbed me by the arm and his claws-“

Lance gently took Keith’s bicep into his hand, inspecting the holes on the jacket and oh God  he should take it off Lance is going to hate him forever now-

Lance shrugged. “No biggie, but is your arm okay?”

He wasn’t mad?

Keith nodded.

”Then it’s fine. I don’t really care.”

Weird.

Taking another shaky breath, Keith tried to find something to change the topic as Lance started to walk again. He pushed down the stab of disappointment when Lance didn’t grab his hand or put an arm around his shoulders.

”Uh,” Keith’s eyes returned to the giant... thing Lance was holding. “What is that?”

Lance followed Keith’s line of sight.

”Oh! That,” Lance’s eyes brightened, a grin overtaking his face. “It’s a hippo.”

”It doesn’t look-“ Lance held it in both hands in front of him, arms outstretched so they reached Keith. In his hands, there was a purple hippopotamus with two giant teeth and two blue eyes and such a cute fucking face- “Oh my God.”

He _loves_ hippos.

* * *

 “Yeah, I- the bathroom was a lie,” he admitted sheepishly, embarrassment flooding him. Keith didn’t seem to care, though. His eyes were locked on the hippo. “I just said that so I could go to one of those weird booths without you noticing and get the hippo.”

Keith seemed to deflate a little bit, eyes leaving the hippo. “Oh.”

”For you,” Lance coughed, clarifying himself. He shook it a little bit, grabbing Keith’s attention.

His eyes lit up.

”W-what?” He choked out, cheeks flushing (from the cold or just being flustered by Lance in general, Lance didn’t know).

“Shiro told me once that you really loved them,” Keith stood there, gaping at Lance with red in his cheeks and an eery stillness. Keith was never still. “So I... yeah. Here.”

Keith didn’t move.

“Keith?” Lance asked, taking one hand off of the hippo and snapping in front of Keith’s face. “You good?”

Keith’s eyes watered as he blinked harshly, hands coming up to pull the hood over his head. “Y-yeah. Yes,” Keith took the hippo with shaking hands, squeezing it to his chest. “T-thank you.”

”Um, no problem?” Lance rubbed the back of his neck, scared he did something wrong. “Do... do you want a hug? You-“

Keith launched himself at Lance, hippo practically forgotten as it was squished in between them. With a surprised gasp, Lance wrapped his arms around Keith’s upper back and waist, holding him tight as he sobbed quietly into Lance’s chest. There we go. Keith was letting things out.

Lance hummed under his breath, glaring at any passing civilians who looked at Keith. They all looked at the ground sheepishly, quickening their pace.

”I-I’m sorry,” Keith said shortly, pulling away and wiping at his cheeks. “I didn’t-“

”Don’t apologize,” Lance smiled at him, rubbing his shoulders. “Don’t bottle everything up, Keith. It’s good to cry every once in a while,” he bumped their shoulders together and took Keith’s wrist gently, pulling him along.

”O-okay,” Keith muttered, clutching the hippo to his chest. Wow, he really liked that hippo. “Where are we going?” his voice was a little hoarse, but if anything, it made Lance like him more. You know, along with the jacket and hippo- he looked extremely adorable. “Lance?”

Lance shook his head with a fond smile.

Keith gave him a small smile, taking Lance’s hand instead of letting Lance hold his wrist.

”You’ll see,” He intertwined their fingers and kept walking. Was this Keith-speak for ‘ _the feeling is mutual_ ’, or is he just being a nice friend?

Lance details that thought before it spirals out of control, instead choosing to just accept that Keith was in fact choosing to willingly hold his hand. 

He didn’t look at their hands; it would only make him blush further, and that was not something he wanted at the moment.

Lance halted at a cross road, sending Keith stumbling into his back.

Even with their hands together, Lance’s practically dwarfing Keith’s, Keith had been trailing behind him.

”You scared of heights?” Lance asked cautiously, looking down the paths. One led to a weird ride that seemed to get flung into the air and back down again, and the other... The other was a ferris wheel.

Keith shook his head.

”Good,” Lance turned around to smirk at him, then proceeded to pull him down the path that led to the ferris wheel. “Let’s go for a ride.”

”What? On what?” Keith questioned, tightening his grip on Lance’s.

”You’ll see.”

Keith groaned, pulling the jacket tighter around himself.

”Okay- wait-“ Lance definitely did not trail Keith’s younger when he subconsciously licked his lips- nope, “Close your eyes.”

”Wh-“

”Just do it,” Lance huffed, exasperated. “Live a little mystery, dude!”

With a glare, Keith reluctantly closed his eyes, taking Lance’s hand with both of his and putting the stuffed hippo inside of Lance’s zipped up jacket. Lance blushed fiercely at the colour difference and the way their hands seemed to fit together perfectly-

Lance pulled him onto one of the carts, completely bypassing the workers because they knew he was apart of Voltron. They let him on without a ticket, and closed the bar. He got Keith to go inside first, so he’d be sitting away from the half-door. 

The cart was white and Earth-like, but there wasn’t a window, it was a grate of electricity, which seemed really dangerous, but it was for precautions. There were buttons in front of it- all in which a language Lance didn’t understand, but the visuals- The middle one was fireworks, the third one was to turn off the electricity, and third... the third was a lightbulb. Maybe it dimmed the lighting? The seats they were on were red and plush, with a little gold button in the middle. Most importantly, it was comfortable. _Very_ comfortable.

He saw Keith’s eyes starting to flutter open as he sat down, so he slapped his hand over Keith’s eyes.

”Lance, what are you doing?” Keith crossed his arms, with a small pout, and wow, Lance was going to die from this cuteness overload- 

“Waiting,” Lance answered truthfully. He was waiting until they were in the air to let Keith see-

They lurched forwards at a surprisingly fast rate, sending Keith toppling into Lance’s lap while Lance hit the cart’s wall.

Keith rubbed his head, which had hit the wall- Well hit Lance’s arm that was on the wall. His torso was sprawled over Lance’s lap, while his head was in front of Lance’s arm. Lance had managed to block Keith from the worst of the damage- his arm felt a little wrong, having taken the pain for Keith. 

Not that he regretted it.

His eyes fluttered open. Lance didn’t stop him: They were in the air, after all. 

Keith’s lips were parted, forming a pink, little oh on his mouth, his cheeks flushing, his cute little nose red and those eyes- God, those eyes-

Then before Lance could comprehend, Keith’s lips were on his and he was using Lance’s thigh to push himself further up.

Keith’s lips were soft, a little chapped, but he didn’t care- he was kissing _Keith_ -

Keith pulled away too fast, cheeks as red as Red. “S-sorry-“

Lance cut him off with a kiss, kicking the fireworks button.

He pulled Keith fully into his lap, resting a hand on the small of his back and neck, pulling him closer-

Fireworks erupted outside at the same time fireworks erupted in Lance’s heart.

And, for once, Lance knew Keith felt the same.

**Author's Note:**

> hehe  
> the ending kinda got away from me, and i wanted to finish this, so, sorry if it seems rushed.


End file.
